Board game:Alpha Omega

The Avalon Hill Game Company1980

The Strong National Museum of Play

Founded in 1954, game company Avalon Hill specialized in producing a variety of strategy-based board games and war simulation games. In 1976, Avalon Hill purchased rival game company 3M, and continued publishing a wide range of games first popularized by the Minnesota company, including the 3M Bookshelf Games Series. The series was named for the vertical slipcase style box which housed the games and resembled spines of books when stored on the family bookcase. The games adhered to high production standards, and welcomed designs from anyone, including independent game designers Sid Sackson and Alexander Randolph. Avalon Hill continued production of bookshelf games until 1998, when the company and its properties were purchase by toy giant Hasbro. Today, both 3M and Avalon Hill bookshelf games are recognized as influential and prized collectibles in the gaming community, often considered precursors to current German "Eurogames." Many electronic gamers also recognize the significance of the games, as the complex and computational methods of their gameplay parallels that of some electronic games. As a result, designers have published several bookshelf game titles in electronic versions.